Daily Times

KARACHI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the death of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist Aftab Ahmed, who died in Rangers’ custody.

While directing to hold an inquiry into Ahmed’s death, the army chief instructed “justice must be done”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Rangers said in a press release they suspended an unspecified number of officials for their “suspected involvement” in Ahmed’s death. Director General (DG) Rangers Major General Bilal Akber set up an investigation team to probe the cause of Ahmed’s death and “reveal the facts”, it said.

Dr Farooq Sattar’s coordinator Aftab Ahmed, 42, who was under Rangers’ 90-day preventive detention, died on Tuesday.

The party claimed he was “brutally tortured” to death, but the paramilitary force maintained he died a “natural death” caused by a heart attack.

Rangers officials claimed that on early Tuesday morning Ahmed complained of “discomfort in breathing and chest congestion” and was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he died after 25 minutes of admission and treatment at the emergency unit of the health facility.

Dr Seemin Jamali, the head of the JPMC’s emergency unit, said, “The doctors and staff did their best and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on the man but it failed to revive him.”

A brief statement issued by the Rangers said that Ahmed was arrested by the paramilitary force on May 1 “due to his involvement in several crimes” and an anti-terrorism court was informed about his 90-day preventive detention for investigation.

MQM convener Nadeem Nusrat has demanded the higher authorities and international human rights bodies to take notice of the incident. “The postmortem was conducted in the presence of Rangers, and the doctors and staff of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC) were asked to leave the room so that a fake report could be issued,” he alleged.

He said there was “undeniable evidence of torture on the body and it could be presented before any court in the world”.

Ahmed had been associated with the MQM since 1990 when he joined Unit-85 of the party’s organisational structure in Landhi. He had been serving as the coordinator to Dr Farooq Sattar since 2002.

Some sensational disclosures are expected in the next 24 hours regarding death of Aftab Ahmed, sources said.